grapes

Quote :

sky, your dwarf plums: euro or japanese varieties? both are highly susceptible to japanese beetles (as are apricots, apriums, and pluots). the grapes even more so. starlings are the only birds that i know that will eat them. my grapes are doing very well, but i lose all my fruit with a fungus in late august every year. i havent found a solution-- do you have any suggestions? the hornworm caterpillars dont help, either

hey BcB
the one thing we have last fall and this spring is a herd (lol) of those nasty starlings..i get mad cause i put suet out for the birds and they just wipe it all out in a matter of hours..grrrrrrrrrrrrr
anyway

grapes and fungus
i don't know if you do companion planting but it was one of the things that i read about and have tried..however i lucked into something here that seems to work out well for me...my grapes are about 6 ft from my blackberries..and as far as bugs go they seem to let the grapes alone...maybe it is luck but it has worked so far..

when i started grapes i wanted to eat them so i got what are called very inappropriately 'seedless' concord...
i have tried several times for other types but none have made it but this year i sent for some white seedless..i'll have to go look at the name cause it just went poof outta my brain..

for the frist few years the grapes didn't have an arbor and then when i started to do a make shift one, hubby got pissed (only way to get him to do stuff is to get him pissed..he's a wonderful man but a world class procrastinator)and he did his usual over compensation
so the arbor is about 15 feet high...
i had read that wild grapes did so well cause they are up in the trees ..so of course we had to go high for an arbor..

the last two years it has been very damp and the leaves and grape did get a fungus..i know there are sprays but i don't want to do that..i am currently researching what i can plant around them to combat fungus

sorry..did the off in a tangent thing
last year the harvest was less than poor but the year before i trimmed back all the leaf growth and just let the grapes hang
between the air and sun the fungus died back and i got a really nice yield

so that is my best plan for right now....i am thinking of planting sages around the base of the vines...sage is a good anti fungus
i'll let you know what i find out and try

but heading out now to get ready to plant those plums and grapes..it didn't get done yesterday as we went to the nursing home (m-i-l)
but today is other siblings turn so planting we shall do..
later
Sky


oh the goosberries..i have two kinds and will let you laugh at my progress there in another thread

the new white seedless grapes are called marquis

yeah i know the grass needed trimmed..lol

wow, youve got a nice trellis going on there! your husband did a nice job. i have red and white seedless but the two vines are only twice the size of yours. i cut mine back in the winter, but not damaging the next years crop. ive got a pruning book somewhere... i need to review it. the blackberries/raspberries need to be pruned. blueberries shouldnt be touched (although i sometimes get rid of the really twiggy branches).

a great deal of the property in the yard is wooded with trees, so i couldnt put anything near the grape vines.

i get this greyish mushiness on the immature grapes and it then spreads to every grape cluster. that, after the japanese beetles annihilate the leaves.

ever try nailing half an orange to a tree? supposedly, you can get orioles with it, but i never tried it myself. yeah, the starlings... but if you dont have the suet out, youll miss out on the visiting woodpeckers.

i recall reading that marigolds make an effective insect repellent. when i have time, ill have to dig around and research it. simply planting marigolds around the plant will help. im not sure it does anything for japanese beetles, though, which are my main issue. maybe an organic soapy water mixture applied to the leaves would do the trick. i would hate having to apply that, though, every time it rains. what a pain. id eat the grayish mushy grapes before i did that. :)

looks like youve got plenty of full sun... you dont have the gooseberries in full sun, do you? it might make a big difference. ever look into getting some serviceberries? supposedly theyre excellent. my bush hasnt fruited yet.

ive got an asian pear tree... i have no problems at all with it, and it gives me fruit in september. only issue i have is that when the fruit starts to ripen, carpenter ants climb up the tree and start eating the apples. otherwise, theyre basically insect and pest resistant. knock on wood!

sounds like you are describing powdery mildew on your grapes...
maybe some research on that would help
most fungus likes damp and dark that much i do know
and
if you have lots of trees around they maybe aren't getting enough sun..

all of my garden and growiong things are mostly sun..i do have some nut trees around the perimeter of
the garden space..but they are back far enough not to shade anything..

and yeah hubby can build just about anything and does a beautiful job
since we got the new grapes in the other side he has to get the wire in on that side now


i was looking up about sweet potatoes in a companion planting book (i ordered plants for this years experiment)
and for the heck of it
checked out the grapes..and sure enough blackberries harbor a parasite to the grapeleaf miners..lol
and i do prune them back a good 80% each winter when the sap is down

and for those carpenter ants i would get some of that gooey stuff to put on the bark of the tree
i can't remember what it is called but they ususally use it when we get infested with gypsy moths catapillars
that pretty much stops anything

oh the goosberries are just fine..my funny sotry is that i got three years and years ago and then decided i wanted to move them..
when i did i tripled how many i had...
and then i didn't like where they were that time either so i made a line of them on the lane to the barn and there are
dozens of them now...
they were pixwell variety which is a smaller berry
wel the very funny part is the birds luv em and you can now find pixwell gooseberries almost anywhere in the woods and ditches around here.. :laughter:

the other ones are in my front bulb garden under an huge oak and i have divided them several times also and shared them with firiends..but i have learnt to prune them properly and the birds don't get a chance with them ..they are one of hubbies favorites so he eats them all..
nice big red/maroon berries with a lighter green stripe on them.. hinnonmaki red is the variety..

ok..what's the next thread to be about?/